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Marana police find officer's use of force justified, reasonable - SIXFOOTERsez - 07-23-2015
Can't find the original thread on this incident.
Kind of glad to see this, pretty violent encounter, but no one died.
Marana police find officer's use of force justified, reasonable
http://www.azfamily.com/story/29608439/marana-police-find-officers-use-of-force-justified-reasonable?autostart=false
A Marana police inquiry into the February case in which an officer used his cruiser to strike a suspect who was armed with a rifle has found that the officer's use of force was justified.
It also concluded that the "non-typical force option" was reasonable.
Officer Michael Rapiejko, who has since left the department to attend law school, used his patrol car to strike Mario Valencia, who was suspected of stealing a rifle from the Walmart at 8280 N. Cortaro Road. Marana police officers' dash cam video shows the suspect firing the weapon into the air, and allegedly pointing it at an officer.
Dash cam video also shows Rapiejko driving onto the sidewalk and ramming Valencia.
The board of inquiry concluded that based on the circumstances of the incident, the use of force and the type of force used was reasonable and justified.
The report concluded Rapiejko put his own life in harm’s way and his actions saved lives and helped keep the community safe.
"Officer Rapiejko made the decision not to shoot the suspect based on the firearms available to him, the scene behind the suspect and the rapidly evolving nature of the situation," the board said in the report.
Click here to read the report: https://www.scribd.com/doc/272306376/Review-of-Marana-PD-use-of-force
While the Board of Inquiry found Rapiejko acted properly, it also found places where the department as a whole needed improvement.
Those areas were in communications and in training, especially in scenario-based training.
Marana Police Chief Terry Rozema said the entire incident lasted 111 seconds, a little less than two minutes.
Rozema said in order to deal with such situations, he would like his officers to have scenario-based training at least once a month.
He agrees with police inquiry report and he believes Rapiejko's actions did save lives, including the suspects, he added, and that Rapiejko's actions put his own life in danger.
"Officer Rapiejko accelerated toward the suspect with his vehicle and put himself in absolute harm's way when he did so because, had the suspect turned around with the rifle and begun shooting, Officer Rapiejko would be a dead man right now in all likelihood," Rozema said. "One of the reasons he did accelerate the way he did was to closes the gap as quickly as possible to limit the opportunity the suspect had to turn on him and fire the weapon."
Rozema presented Rapiejko the Medal of Valor based on his actions during this incident.
According to a department spokesman, the Medal of Valor is awarded for "conspicuous acts of heroism."
Chief Rozema said Rapiejko had considered his options before deciding to use his cruiser against the suspect.
"In fact, he told us, you can hear, if you listen on the tape, 'you'll be able to hear me unclick my holster.' And you can when you listen through that. So he thought about other options," Rozema said. "He thought about getting his gun from the trunk--his rifle from the trunk--but didn't believe that he had time to do that. And he saw a very small window of opportunity and he seized that window."
Rozema said the officers were not going to let the suspect get closer to nearby businesses where dozens and dozen of people were working.
The chief said a gun battle might have been seconds away from starting if Rapiejko had not acted.
In fact, he said there was a SWAT officer right behind Rapiejko and that officer had already readied his rifle to fire.
Rozema said if there had been a gun battle, bullets would have been "going all different directions. We would've been in a crossfire situation. We would've been shooting with a backdrop of the Sargent Controls. We would've been shooting with a backdrop of I-10--cars traveling by. And you know, Officer Rapiejko did a great job of articulating that."
Read Rozema's supplement to the official board report that he released to Tucson News Now here: https://www.scribd.com/doc/272318988/MPD-Board-of-Inquiry-Chief-Rozema-Supplement
The Pima County Attorney's Office decided earlier not to press criminal charges against Rapiejko.
Valencia, 36, is suspected of being responsible for a crime spree that began that morning in Tucson and included a convenience-store robbery, a church break-in, a home invasion and car theft.
Valencia suffered minor injuries and was transported to the hospital. He was released a few days later and is set to go to trial Oct. 20.
He is currently being held in the Pima County Jail on $100,000 bond.
His attorney said she is exploring whether Valencia is competent to stand trial.
She said she also is considering the potential defense of "guilty but insane."
RE: Marana police find officer's use of force justified, reasonable - BlueTiki - 07-23-2015
That sumbitch flew through the air like a rag doll!
I laughed my ass off, watching it.
And laughed even harder when the asshole survived!
RE: Marana police find officer's use of force justified, reasonable - Duchess - 07-23-2015
It was ah-mazing to see that cop car plow into him. It's always fun to see a bad guy brought down in a spectacular fashion.
RE: Marana police find officer's use of force justified, reasonable - BlueTiki - 07-23-2015
For once, it was nice to see a "pedestrian" struck down by someone other than a senior citizen . . . remember . . . it IS Arizona!